Use: Restores 61 health over 18 sec. Must remain seated while eating. If you spend at least 10 seconds eating you will become well fed and gain 2 Stamina and Spirit for 15 min.

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 cup molasses

Sift the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and baking soda in a bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, blend the butter and brown sugar until combined. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then the molasses. Slowly add the flour mixture. Mix well after each addition of flour. The dough will be stiff.

Divide dough in half, flatten into 2 thick circles and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm enough to roll out.

Note: Lest anyone else take this post seriously, I would like to point out that it’s flagged as “Humor.” I’m not really changing my blog’s name!

Many former EverQuest players will remember the concept of “alpha loot.” This was basically a way to ensure a more-or-less even distribution of loot from monsters by having each group member loot in alphabetical order (this was long before the days when a game automatically handled loot distribution). And since the alpha looting always began with the letter “A”, you had a statistical advantage in the amount of junk you could collect the closer the first letter of your name was to the beginning of the alphabet. I always joked that I was going to reroll as a character named Aardvarkia.

I am noticing a similar problem with my blog title. Many blogs diplomatically opt to alphabetize their blogrolls. This of course makes perfect sense, but as a blog whose name starts with “R”, Resto4Life is often in the bottom 25% of listings. This isn’t really a problem until there are 20 or more blogs that people have to click through to find you. With the Druid blog community growing like a Tauren at an all-you-can-eat gnome buffet, this is becoming more common. Therefore, I would like to announce the following change to my blog name:

AAA Resto(Druid)4Life

The first “A” stands for “An”, the second “A” for “Absolutely”, and the third “A” for “Amicable”. The “Druid” is silent but really brings it all together, I think. Anyway, if you could all update your blogrolls as soon as possible, I’d appreciate it. ^_^

There’s an interesting blog-based “challenge” floating around where authors are sharing “5 Gaming Lessons” (learned in however long they’ve been playing). To give credit where it’s due, I first read about this idea over at The Bronze Kettle though they credit The Game Dame for the original idea and several others have risen to the challenge. While not an exact match persay, this idea has encouraged me to dust off one of my long-waiting drafts, one where I had started writing a letter to myself to enclose with my first copy of World of Warcraft. The idea for this letter was to include the pearls of wisdom that would otherwise have to be hard earned.

Dear me,

I know the video of the pretty pink elf shapeshifting into a sleek black panther is what makes you think you want to play a Druid. Little do you realize that you’ll end up spending less than 1% of your total time in a Feral form.

Yes, you’ll choose a Druid, but no, you won’t wear any of the gear that you can craft using the Leatherworking skill. Yes, I know you want to pick it up anyway because it seems Druidy. No, it’s still a bad idea. Be happy with Tailoring. At least you can make yourself pretty dresses. And later, some of the best armor for you will be made of cloth, not leather. Go figure.

Don’t agree to help start a PvP guild. You don’t even like PvP. And you won’t until the game changes to make PvP more Healing-friendly. That won’t happen until the release of the first expansion.

Don’t make 5 16-slot bags for every friend who buys the game on the first day they play. Chances are good they may never get past their trial. Try not to take it personally. Unless you didn’t listen to me and made them the bags anyway.

Put this box down… Okay, now look for the one that’s marked “Collector’s Edition.” It has an adorable little panda bear pet that falls asleep with his round butt in the air and cute little green Zzzz over his head! Much better. Proceed to checkout.

Your friend,
You

P.S. When creating your character, don’t name them Gaelic words that no one can pronounce. You’ll end up regretting it and only be able to change it when you transfer servers.

What lessons have you learned since coming into the World … of Warcraft?